Quote:
Originally Posted by dragonrazor
actually, according to legend, when Japan was first opened to the europeans, a group of "ninja", later revealed to be samurai, tried to kill a european ambassador, as well as a legendary chinese hero who was visiting. At least, i think it took place in Japan...it might actually have been in a China, which at the time had a great deal of Japanese influence. His name was Wong Fei-Hung, and he was both a master martial artist (including the Drunken Fist style, according to one interpretation) and a doctor. granted, there are a great deal of legends surrounding the man, but this was a bit unique. the task of the samurai was to implicate the ninja, who, at the time, were servants of the Emperor, just like the Samurai were. you said it yourself, the Samurai served their master, their Daimyo...they were honorbound to follow his orders, and even if they were ridiculous, as in this case, it was considered shameful not to follow them. it caused a great deal of conflict even amongst the samurai ranks, because even though it was dishonorable to deny the orders, following them was ALSO dishonorable. but those alledged "ninja" used singleedged straight katana, instead of the slightly curved katana you are describing or the doubleedged blades more classically attributed to the ninja (which curved towards the tip, but were in fact straight-edged, as i've said)
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You just said yourself: "according to legend." There are no solid, reliable historical records to support your statement. It's pure myth. I've studied Japanese History extensively, in fact I teach Japanese History to teenagers, and I have never read nor heard of any historical evidence to confirm this "legend" as fact.
The time period you are referring to is the very end of the Tokugawa period; Wong Fei Hung never came to Japan during this time. Rather, the only official record of him interacting with the Japanese was when he fought against their army in Taiwan.
During this time period you are referring to, there was a lot of inner turmoil and conflict between those who supported the Shogun and those who supported the Emperor. The Shogun's side was open to foreign influence, while the Emperor supporters, aka Imperial Loyalists were not. The incident you are referring to had nothing to do with ninja. Ronin members of one of several Imperial Loyalist parties took it upon themselves to attempt to assassinate a foreign ambassador, they were not ordered to do it by any daimyo; those Imperial Loyalists acted of their own accord, some of them AGAINST the wishes of their daimyo.
What's more, neither the ninja nor the samurai served the Emperor. If they served any one figure, it would be the Shogun since it was he who was actually in power (the Emperor up until now has been little more than a figurehead). Otherwise they would serve their respective daimyo (feudal lords).